Page 13 - Kintsugi Lacquer Repairs on Jaoanese Pottery

vi Hare, Thomas: Zeami’s Style: on its protect ive box. A perfect example is the Seto teabowl in this exhibition (cat. p. 27).
The Noh Plays of Seami Motokiyo.
Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1986, pp. 281–282, note 20.
KKS XV #747. Tsuki ya aranu / haru
ya mukashi no / haru naranu/ wa
ga mi hitotsu wa / moto no mi ni
shite.
The beautiful elliptical shape of the mouth of this bowl is drawn to our attention by its
interruption at three points with lacquer mending. The mending is unusual in that linear
gold lines are superimposed on fi elds of brown lacquer, and in one area transgress the
fi eld to descend toward the interior of the bowl. The lacquer repairs contrast markedly
with the soft moss-like glazed surface even as they follow the vertical streaking of the
glaze. However it is the inscription of a poem inside the protect ive box for the bowl that
establishes its emotional resonance. Quoting the ninth century poetic genius Ariwara no
Narihira (825–880), the poem reads:
That is not the moon
Nor is this
The spring of years gone by
I alone remain
As I was before. vi
As the poem expresses, mended ceramics convey simultaneously a sense of rupture and
of continuity. That one moment in which the incident occurred is forever captured in
the lines and fi elds of lacquer mending. It becomes an eternally present moment yet a
moment that oddly enough segues into another where perishability is circumvented by
repair. Simultaneously we have the expression of frailty and of resilience, life before the
incident and life aft er. Yet the object is not the same. In its rebirth it assumes a new iden-
tity that incorporates yet transcends the previous identity. Like the cycle of reincarnation,
one life draws to a close and another begins.
Even as a long history and consummate appreciation of mended ceramics in the
pract ice of Tea exist, these talismanic object s are seen in the tearoom only during the last
two weeks of Oct ober. The waning days of autumn are known as the season of nagori in
Japan, of which the appreciation of mended ceramics is an essential part. A utensil that
has been cherished by a succession of individuals, through that very regard, comes to be
damaged. Yet rather than excluding the object from aesthetic consideration, the mend-
ing stands as evidence of the regard in which it has been held. It attests to its inherent
worth. Such a disregard of pristine artistry emphasizes the qualities of the object that
transcend physical beauty. Its appeal is situated precisely in its emotional qualities. The
limitation of such a powerful aesthetic to two weeks of the year may seem unusual but has